New safety fears over counterfeit car parts

CAR safety experts have warned counterfeit crash repair parts for complex modern systems — such as airbags — may be costing lives.

Joshua Dowling National Motoring Editor

News Corp Australia NetworkMay 29, 20147:13pm

CAR safety experts have renewed warnings about non-genuine and counterfeit crash repair parts as an industry insider has claimed it may have already cost lives.

The issue has come to a head as cars have developed more complex safety systems and airbag sensors, while body structures now use a broader range of lightweight but high-strength steels.

In the struggle to lower crash repair costs some insurance companies are using an increasing number of non-genuine parts — which are typically not made from the same materials — and a minority of rogue repairers are fitting counterfeit components.

A crash repair industry insider is concerned bogus parts may have already cost lives or caused injuries when they may have emerged unscathed.

But, he warns, under current guidelines authorities wouldn’t know because crash investigation experts do not routinely check whether cars in fatal crashes were equipped with genuine, non-genuine or counterfeit airbags.

Chilling video demonstrations show that one-hundredth of a second can mean the difference between life and death when an airbag deploys.

“Absolutely there could have already been people killed or injured as a result of their car being equipped with a non-genuine or counterfeit airbag,” said the senior industry insider with 30 years experience who asked not to be named.

He said it was “a false argument” to say there were no reported incidents “because there is no way to prove it”.

The insider said rogue smash repairers were motivated to fit non-genuine or counterfeit parts because they make more profit by charging insurance companies for the genuine article.

Best-practice insurance companies audit a maximum of one-in-10 cars that are repaired, but even then bogus parts are difficult to identify.

“Anyone who knowingly does the wrong thing ought to be charged with fraud, or worse, but the problem is they’re easily able to hide what they’ve done,” said the insider. “In the case of counterfeit parts, they can claim they were duped.”

The chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Toby Weber, says motorists need to be better educated about the differences between genuine and non-genuine parts — and to read the fine print in their insurance policies.

“You don’t want to realise a millisecond before your airbag goes off that it’s not going to perform properly,” said Mr Weber.

“Non-genuine parts may not perform the same way as genuine parts and can actually increase the danger to occupants and other road users.”

When asked if Australians should be concerned about counterfeit parts Mr Weber said: “We have seen overseas examples of airbags that don’t inflate at the appropriate time and rate. We don’t know for certain if they are in the Australian market yet but we suspect they are.”

Non-genuine parts are ones intended to match the design and integrity of the original part, but they are not required to be crash-tested.